The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife (Blair and Grayson) novel Chapter 247

Chapter 247

CHARLOTTE-

“You’re not staying here,” Callum said. “Not with him. I won’t allow it.”

His voice had dropped. The fight was over. This was the part where he decided what would happen to my

life.

“It’s time to come home. You’ve done enough for a man who clearly doesn’t know how to appreciate you the right way yet. He needs a lot of growing up to do.”

I looked at Luca.

Tears were already in my eyes.

He would not look at me.

The blood on his mouth stayed there, and despite his heartless words I still wanted to reach over and clean the wound. To take care of him the way I always had. Because that was the cruelest part. The part that did not switch off just because he had told my brother it was finished.

I walked over to him anyway.

Close enough to smell him. His cologne and blood and a scent that was all him. Close enough that not touching him felt like I had been the one punched instead.

“Do you really think it was all a mistake,” I asked. “That we shouldn’t have crossed that line?”

His jaw clenched.

For a second I thought he would not answer.

Then he nodded.

Once.

Something in his face cracked when he did it. Not enough for Callum to see. Enough for me. His eyes went bright and then shut, like the nod cost him more than my brother’s earlier attack. His throat worked. He still would not say my name.

I broke down on the inside.

I did not show him.

I nodded back.

“Okay.” I whispered, and reached up and gently wiped the blood off the side of his mouth with my finger. “Goodbye, Luca.”

His breath caught.

I felt it against my hand.

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The Mockey Captam’s Unwanted Wife

His eyes opened.

For one second he looked at me the way he had in the medical corridor. Like I was the only thing in the room. His fingers twitched at his side, almost reaching for my wrist, and then he locked them into a fist and let them fall.

Goodbye.

That was all I could say that would not come out as a sob.

I packed what I could see. A bag. A jacket. The charger by the bed. I did not look at the sheets. I did not look at the places we had spent so much time locked in each other’s arms. It was all a mistake to him. I had to let it go. I had to forget it.

My hands shook on the zipper.

Marco was in the doorway, looking horrified at the direction things were heading.

I stopped in front of him.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

He shook his head. “Don’t. What are you even sorry about? And why are you leaving? We can fix this.”

“I’m sorry for dragging you into it. For leaving like this. Thank you for everything.”

I hugged him. Quick. Tight.

“Please don’t tell him what we spoke about,” I whispered.

Marco’s arms tightened until I could feel how much he was holding himself together.

“Charlotte-”

“Please.”

He took a rough breath against my hair.

“He is an idiot,” he whispered, so only I could hear. “He is scared and he is wrong and he is going to hate himself for this. Don’t disappear on me. Don’t rush to leave. I will talk to him when you’re gone.”

Then he nodded as he moved back.

Callum took my bag.

“She deserves better than a man who won’t even look at her,” he said to the room, but it was directed at Luca. “She has spent years holding his life together. If he cannot fight for her for thirty seconds, he does not get to keep her in a hotel suite and call it friendship.”

Luca flinched.

He still did not speak.

We left. Without him even attempting to stop me.

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The Mockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife

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All of this from just one argument? I didn’t even recognize him in that moment. I thought he would stand up for me, as he always did-whether fighting for our friendship or not. Instead, he just let everything

de, acting like it wasn’t important to him at all.

I walked quietly down the corridor. Then to the lift. I did not look back, because if I looked back and he was still standing there with blood on his mouth and his hands in fists, I would not get in the car.

Callum did not speak until the doors closed.

“I’m sorry to see you like this,” he said. “But I’m doing what’s best for you. That playboy will move on to the next girl tonight the second you’re gone. I hate to say it, but it’s the truth. If he cared, he would have fought for you.”

I stared at the numbers.

“He did care,” I said. My voice was soft. “Just not the way I needed.”

“Then he should have said so. Not nodded and let you leave without fighting for you.”

I watched Barcelona through the car windows as I continued to sob. I couldn’t believe this was how things had ended up between us.

This morning I had woken up in his arms.

Now I was leaving the hotel with my brother because Luca had agreed it was all a mistake we should forget.

I loved him.

I would not love another man the way I loved Luca Vescari.

And I was leaving him.

For good?

The question stayed stuck in my throat and did not come out.

Callum reached over once, squeezed my hand, and let go.

“You can hate me in the morning,” he said. “I’d rather you hate me and be safe than stay there and keep breaking your heart for a man who just promised me he was done with you.”

I did not hate him.

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